Do Dreams Die?
by doctoring
Summary: Yato wakes Hiyori, disrupting her dream, more than once. She doesn't pay it much mind at first, until a comment by Yukine sends her into a dark place, one of endless questions about Yukine's past life. Written for Writer's Month: Word Prompt: dreams


Hiyori wakes with a start, sweating and heart racing. She clutches at her chest and looks around the room. Soon, she realizes it was only a nightmare, cut short by a… She strains to recall what caused the abrupt end to her nightmare as she tries to calm her heart. Then she hears it.

There's another muffled thump, apparently from downstairs. She feels her heart start to race again.

She slowly creeps towards her door, listening. She hears another muffled thump, followed by a voice. She quickly gets back into bed and slips into her phantom form.

She starts to sneak into the hall when she hears it. Giggling. A very familiar giggling at that. As she approaches the living room, she can now clearly hear Yukine make hushing sounds over Yato's laughter, but Yukine was too late. Hiyori storms into to the living room to scold them.

"Get out!"

"But we were just-"

"OUT!"

"But-"

"The shrine is safer for you, so why are you even here?"

Yato didn't have a protest for that, and Yukine was tugging at his sleeve, clearly wanting to leave. After a bit more coercion (and maybe a few threats), Yato and Yukine finally leave.

As she slipped back into her body and tried to fall asleep again, she couldn't help but feel a little grateful for their disruption. _It was a pretty awful nightmare._

* * *

Hiyori is smiling more than she ever has in her life. She is at her graduation ceremony, meaning that she is finally done with high school, done with exams! She's laughing with all her friends and family, until her father pulls her aside to take a photo. She beams at the camera, feeling proud of her accomplishments for achieving one of her major goals.

As the camera flashes, a great weight hits her and she gasps for breath, sitting up in bed.

She takes a few seconds to compose herself, realizing that once again Yato had disrupted her sleep. But this time, it was a pleasant dream. And this time, he was in. Her. Room.

As Yato is trying to apologize for falling onto the bed and waking her up, convincing her to go straight back to sleep, she instead tries to physically knock more sense into him.

When demanding to know the reason for his trespassing, Yato simply replies, "We were bored."

"WE? What do you mean by 'we,' Yato?"

Yukine then appears, staring wide at a Hiyori. He's apologizing profusely for Yato's ignorance while also nagging at him to get out of there.

Yato tries to deflect the situation by pointing out that Hiyori was mumbling in her sleep, moving quite a bit. He asks if something was attacking her.

Hiyori stalls for a minute. "Um… no… I was just… dreaming…"

She strains to think about it, not sure if it was a nightmare or not. She didn't think it was, so she doesn't understand why she was moving or making noises.

Yato, not having heard her reply, questions her again, becoming more concerned.

She brushes it off as dreaming, still trying to recall her dream.

She glances over at Yukine, head tilted in confusion. "Dreaming… huh… I don't think I dream anymore… I don't even know if I ever dreamed when I was still alive…"

She looks back over a Yato who was trying to slyly go through the stuff on her desk, and she remembers. it's late at night and they shouldn't be here. She scolds them again, telling them to leave, and they comply this time.

As soon as they left, she wonders about Yukine's comment.

_Does Yukine just not dream? I have a friend that doesn't dream; maybe he's the same way. Or maybe he _can_ dream but just can't remember it whenever he wakes up. Hardly anyone remembers every detail of every dream they had. That's most likely it…_

_But what if… what if, as a Regalia, he can't dream at all? What if none of them dream, ever?_

She goes to straighten the mess on her desk that Yato made, looking at all her exam materials. Then she recalls the joy she felt in her dream at not having to take exams anymore. She glances over at her calendar, where she had scribbled a number on each day, calculating how long until she graduates, in lieu of studying.

"Now that's a real dream there… finally being done with school! No more homework or exams ever again!"

Then a terrible thought occurs to her.

_Yukine might not have dreams at night, either because he is a Regalia or because he's dead. But what about this kind of dreams… dreams in life, goals in life… What kind of goals does one have when their own life is cut short? He's now stuck living as a Regalia for a god who is struggling to make his name known. Does he have dreams now? What about the dreams of his past life?_

_Did he ever have the same dream as me? Did he ever wish to be finally done with school, to graduate, and to never have to worry about exams again?_

_Or would he have wanted to be done with school? Did he have dreams of continuing his education? Perhaps going to college one day? Or was he still too young for that, just worried about getting through his current grade, before his life was cut short?_

_He probably didn't even experience enough of life to fully consider whether or not he wanted to go to college. He might not have even filled out one of those 'future plans' lists for the counselor, detailing what school or career he would like to aim for… provided he lived that long… _

Hiyori lays back in bed, feeling sick to her stomach. She tries to push the thoughts away, to sleep them off, but she couldn't help the anxious feeling consuming her over regarding Yukine's past life.

_When Yukine died, did all his dreams die with him?_

.the end.


End file.
